Official site for the high/dark fantasy books of authors Barb Hendee and J. C. Hendee, including the Noble Dead Saga (a.k.a. The Noble Dead series), the Mist-Torn Witches series, the Vampire Memories series, and TNDS: Tales from the world of the Noble Dead Saga.

Well, it’s finally here, and we’ve all been waiting to see it. Stop by NobleDead.org and head to the “Books” page, click the title of the book, and then the cover image to see a slight enlargement.

Still no back cover details / description as yet, for we won’t share that until such is officially released to the vendor sites. It shouldn’t be long now. Some links are available on the Books page for pre-order, and we’ll have more of those as the title pops up at major online vendors. Oh, and we’ve added some iTunes/Apple links to titles available. More to come soon!

We’ve decided to give Apple another try as an additional vendor for Tales from the world of the Noble Dead Saga, though this latest re-experiment still raises some red flags. Apple’s software approach to delivering ebooks to their store is rather burdensome and convoluted; it puts this attempt at risk in a specific way, but Homeward, I: The Game Piece is now available though the iTunes store.

PURCHASE AT:

You will need to have iTunes installed on your computer or use an iOS device for the Apple/iTunes (lower-right) link to work. Of course you can also go through your installed iTunes and search out the title in the books section. If no price wars are started across our chosen vendors, we will continue by putting up the rest of our “Tales” on the iTunes store. So, why are we concerned about a potential price war? Well…

Proofs for S3B2: The Dog in the Dark are back out the door as of late last week.

For now, all work on the “Tales” project is still on hold, as we have to speed up a bit on the work needed for S3B3 [Untitled], due out January 2014.

This is one of our busiest times every year. Then again, it usually is for everyone in different ways. The draft version of S3B3 must be submitted by the end of the year to stay on schedule; yes, it does take this long from the first notion in our heads to a completed book on the shelves. We’ve never missed a deadline in the last decade, and we won’t this time either, but it requires we put other things on pause momentarily.

As to no title yet on this future volume of the saga… well, we’re still tossing some notions back and forth. This one may be tough to label, but we’ll come up with something. That’s all for now, and its back to the grind.

Just a quick little update this morning, as it has been a week since we’ve posted any news. Right now, all of our varied writing projects, such as working on S3B3 in the saga and any “Tales” in process, are on hold as we go over all final page proofs (galleys) for The Dog in the Dark.

This is one of those tedious parts of getting a novel to print, but it has to be done. We both go over every page, line by line, looking for not only typos that somehow snuck in but also minor clarity issues. Nothing major can be changed at this point. Others at the publisher will do so as well, and everyone’s notes get sent on to be entered in the layout. Meanwhile the uncorrected advanced review copies (ARCs) are probably out the door to various reviewers. With luck and no major issues popping up, we should be done with our part by mid-to-late week at the latest and get back to writing the newer or next stuff.

And that’ll be the last we see of S3B2: The Dog in the Dark until it hits the shelves in January. Well, except for a final version of the cover, which we’ll share with you when it’s ready.

Homeward, IV: The Keepersby Barb Hendee is a DRM-Less release.

That’s right, no encryption or lockdown; you are legally free to place this title on any device you (and only you) personally own.

This is our first experiment in DRM-Less publishing, so we’ll see how it goes before we look at what to do with our future (or past) privately published works.

For those using a Kindle, this may not mean much for you, since your copy is in the proprietary AZW/TOPAZ format. You can at least back up this file locally if you wish by plugging your Kindle device into your computer via USB and copying it to a suitable location on your computer.

For those reading the EPUB edition (KoboBooks or B&N), you have greater options to view your copy on most all Apple, Android, Windows, Linux, etc. devices with any reader app or application that can open and display the EPUB format. So enjoy reading this latest entry in Tales from the world of the Noble Dead Saga in whatever way suits you best.

For non-USA readers, Amazon and KoboBooks offer access and purchase from outside of the USA. For Amazon, you will need to seek the proper site by domain extension (.es, .uk, etc.); see the main Amazon.com site for assistance if you cannot find your region’s domain site. KoboBooks has affiliates in about 150 countries, though their main site (from what we understand) sells directly (with immediate access) to many countries around the world.

It may take a little more time for our privately published titles to filter through these large vendor sites to any of their non-USA subsites, but they will. We thank you for your patience with all of the technical difficulties that delayed this release.

NOTE: Along with this release, Homeward, I: The Game Piece by Barb has also (finally) become available at KoboBooks.com.

You can find the direct link for it through the “Tales” page at NobleDead.org.

While you’re at our site, you can also have a look at the previous “Tales” releases in the “Homeward” and “Bones of the Earth” sequences.

Though set in the world of the Noble Dead Saga, the “Tales” stories and sequences do not require knowledge of the saga’s books/series. You can easily pick up and read one as your first venture in this world.

You Don't Need an EReader

Apps for Windows, OS X, Android and iOS devices to purchase and read ebooks are available for free. If you later buy a device, all of your previously purchased books from the device's vendor will load to your new device as well as still being available through your vendor-based app.

A couple of the major online ebook vendors are having minor to moderate technical difficulties that should be worked out shortly. Overall, this is not surprising. The number of people jumping on the e-self-publishing wagon is actually growing and growing. The flow of data through portals (and especially the load coming through aggregators) has jammed a couple vendor systems in the last two weeks. Not all those using the direct portals were affected, so I guess we were just one of the (un)lucky ones. J.C. has been monitoring the situation and is doing what he can from our side.

As soon as Homeward, IV: The Keepers makes it through these separate little snarls and appears on all of our selected vendor sites, we’ll make the official release announcement; information and links will be added to NobleDead.org and passed through our news system and linked social sites. That should happen within 24 hours or less, so stay with us until then.

This will be my (J.C.) last note on this topic for a while. There is little more to say that you have not already heard or want to hear — if you have been following along or sought out more info on your own. Like happened in the Music industry, DRM is beginning to fracture in the ebook industry, this time in the open rather than unseen to the public eye. It may not disappear entirely, but cracks can be widened over time with enough applied force and decay of the chains. The problem still remains as to what can effectively protect authors and publishers from book theft without infringing on consumer rights or being subject to the dictates of the vendors. It may well be a pipe dream that is not to be. I touched upon this in some ways previously in how print books were never safe once we entered the digital age; that was an illusion.

A while back, publishers large and small demanded the option to not use DRM on certain or all titles they released; it was the large operations that made a difference. Vendors had to comply when a couple of those made it clear that they intended to turn away from DRM as it existed… and would not list titles with certain vendors that did not comply. Even the direct publishing portals we use have or now have the option to not use DRM.

The vendors still control the actual DRM process, and at present, there is no other option or way that its use is efficient. Or in other words, it is not efficient for publishers and authors to live with a system that is outside of their control for their rights. Obviously, at least major publishers (if not authors) have some influence to bring to bear. In fact, it started a little while back, as you will note in the articles below.

The first link at the bottom of this article is one that was broken in the first of this series of commentaries, but it is just as appropriate here. Also take note of the sites these articles come from; some are actually geared specifically to information in ebook, publishing, and library industries. With all of this in mind, Barb and I will try our first experiment in non-DRM publishing as well.

The upcoming release of Homeward, IV: The Keepers by Barb will be DRM free.

This won’t mean much to Kindle users, as Amazon’s AZW/TOPAZ format will not “play” on anything but a Kindle device/app. But you can still get your hands on Calibre to transcode it into EPUB if need be for other devices you personally own. Without DRM in your way, it is 100% legal to do so… but just your own devices and not anyone else’s. For those buying through one of our other selected vendors, you will already be purchasing an ebook in the EPUB format, the most common format worldwide.

We will see how this experiment goes with this one title for about a month before we make any decisions concerning past “tales.” Time for us as well to put some faith in our readers. I (J.C.) just got knocked down with a head cold in the middle of freakish heat wave in Oregon of all places; 101F yesterday by 1 p.m., PST. But I will still be up on my feet long enough to get this next entry in Tales from the world of the Noble Dead Saga out the door. Then, fate willing, and barring no other catastrophes, I need to get back my actual writing.

No rambling commentary this time. Rather just some links to opinions, facts, and other issues. DRM is a complicated matter with far reaching complications, implications, and peripheral damage. And sometimes, any one faction in the war may actually be on more than one side… depending on the details in question.

The following links were pointed out to me via FaceBook by a past college cohort and friend, who is also involved (as I once was in a different way) in the IT industry: Drew Morris.

I can’t say these articles will clear up any of your personal reader’s concerns, but there are some information and perspectives herein that I hadn’t thought about much myself. I’m learning more and more, like the rest who have taken an interest in their book and reading rights. So have a peek…